NA body expresses concerns over delay in development project

Islamabad: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on House and Library expressed its annoyance over the delay in construction of additional suites and servant quarters in the Parliament Lodges in Islamabad and directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to resolve the matter immediately.

Matters pertaining to possession of plots to members of the National Assembly Employees Cooperative Housing Society (NAECHS), budget and maintenance of the Parliament House and up-gradation of National Assembly Library came under discussion in the meeting held here in the Parliament House on Wednesday.

The Deputy Speaker, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, resented the failure in the construction of family suites at Parliament Lodges and said that the project was started in May, 2011 and was to be completed in November 2013. He said that the contractor -- in an attempt to put his incapability under the carpet and linger on the matter -- has taken the matter to the Arbitrator but the CDA is not seemed to be actively pursuing the case to dispose it off timely. The committee directed the CDA chairman to take personal interest in resolving the matter immediately.

The committee also discussed the status of possession of plots to the Employees of the National Assembly Employees Cooperative Housing Society. The committee expressed its displeasure over delaying tactics in handing over the possession of plots to the National Assembly Secretariat employees by the Federal Employees Cooperative Housing Society (FECHS). 

The committee also expressed its displeasure for not implementing the Joint Venture Agreement between NAECHS and Federal Employees Cooperative Housing Society for provision of plots to the employees of National Assembly and Senate. The deputy speaker held that according to the Joint venture, FECHS was bound to give possession of plots to 1,096 members of parliament but only 413 were awarded the possession.

He asked for postponement of the FECHS elections till an action is taken against the former president and FECHS’s current administrator be authorised to give allotment of plots. The committee suggested initiating the FIA investigations against the former president of FECHS.